In the Times, Richard Spencer writes that the Trump administration’s “deal of the century” for peace between Israelis and Palestinians faced the prospect of indefinite delay last night after rejection in the Arab world and the collapse of domestic coalition talks in Jerusalem. Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s adviser, met Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, hours after the Knesset voted to hold a second general election, following April’s inconclusive result. Both men were optimistic, despite the uncertainty surrounding the fate of Netanyahu, America’s closest ally in the region. Even if he wins the new election, scheduled for September, Netanyahu will have to spend months in court fighting allegations of corruption. An indictment hearing is set for October. The collapse of the coalition talks and the knock-on effect for the peace plan were met with glee by Palestinian spokesmen. “Now it is the deal of the next century,” Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians’ chief negotiator, said.

The BBC’s Tom Bateman asks whether after a decade of dominance over Israeli politics, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s crown is slipping. Bateman concludes that, as the left wing, Israeli Arab parties and the traditional “peace” camp decline in popularity, the second Israeli election of 2019 may again revolve around rhetoric over military prowess and national identity. Netanyahu will fiercely try to hold on to his crown.

In the Independent, Bel Trew asks, with Israel heading towards unprecedented snap elections: “Is this the end for Israel’s Prime Minister?” If Avigdor Lieberman believes that Netanyahu’s days are numbered, writes Trew, there will be a big gap in the right-wing leadership that will need to be filled. But for now, no one truly knows.

Sky News Middle East correspondent Alex Rossi asks if this is the beginning of the end for Netanyahu. Since April’s election, writes Rossi, Netanyahu’s situation has transmogrified into a political nightmare that could have far reaching consequences, not just for his career but also for his freedom.

The Guardian reports that Israel’s defence ministry plans to hold an auction next week to sell two prefabricated classrooms that were donated to Palestinian schoolchildren by the EU. The Civil Administration, the body tasked with running the occupation, tore down and confiscated the classrooms last October. An advertisement published in Maariv said the sale would take place at Civil Administration offices in the West Bank. After the classrooms were dismantled, the EU mission to Jerusalem and Ramallah condemned Israeli authorities and called on them to rebuild the structures in the same place “without delay”.

The Financial Times and Independent report that US National Security Adviser John Bolton has said that evidence that Iran was behind the sabotage of four oil tankers off the east coast of the United Arab Emirates will be presented to the UN Security Council, possibly as early as next week. The Financial Times reports that during a briefing with reporters in London on Thursday, Bolton doubled down on claims that Iran was responsible for the attack off the coast of the UAE earlier this month — an incident that Iranian officials have described as suspicious. “I don’t think anybody who is familiar with the situation in the region, whether they have examined the evidence or not, has come to any conclusion other than that these attacks were carried out by Iran or their surrogates,” Bolton said in remarks reported by news agencies. His comments came ahead of a presidential visit to the UK by Donald Trump next week, as the US ramps up the pressure on Tehran over the attack.

Reuters reports that on Thursday, following a meeting of Japan and Russia’s foreign and defence ministers, an official in Tokyo said that Russia have expressed support for Japan’s intention to play a role in helping ease tensions between Iran and the US. On Monday, US President Donald Trump welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s help in dealing with Iran, after Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that Abe was considering a trip to Tehran as early as mid-June. “Traditionally Japan has had friendly ties with Iran,” a Japanese Foreign Ministry official told a media briefing after the meeting of the four ministers. “There were comments from the Japanese side that Japan aims to play a role by taking advantage of such ties. The Russian side made a very positive comment in response,” the official said.

The Financial Times reports that the murder of an actress by her husband, Mohammad-Ali Najafi, the former mayor of Tehran and former Vice President of Iran, has sparked scandal and intrigue in Tehran. Over the past several days in Iran, the story of Mohammad-Ali Najafi has dominated television news broadcasts, newspaper front pages, social media and everyday conversation. Videos of Najafi’s confession have been viewed millions of times online. The scandal, the first of its kind in the Islamic Republic for decades, is a crack in the façade of a deeply conservative regime, which actively promotes traditional family values. Shocking for the brutality of the murder, it has also prompted a wave of conspiracy theories in a country where distrust of officialdom is high. Many ordinary people and reformist politicians question if it is part of a plot to neutralise a potentially popular presidential candidate.

The Guardian reports that a lawyer for Shamima Begum’s family has accused Sajid Javid of cancelling the citizenship of the teenager who joined Islamic State to further his ambitions of becoming prime minister, describing the case as “human fly-tipping”. Mohammed Akunjee also accused police and Begum’s local authority, Tower Hamlets in London, of failing to protect the 19-year-old from being groomed by the Islamist terror group as a schoolgirl in 2015. Javid, the Home Secretary and current Tory leadership candidate, stripped Begum of her British citizenship in February after she was found in a refugee camp in Syria. She was in the late stages of pregnancy and said she wanted to return to the UK. Akunjee said Javid’s decision was a “politically-driven abuse of power”, and called for the decision to be overturned and an apology offered.

In the Independent, Richard Hall writes: “As Syrian government touts fight against ‘terrorists’ in Idlib, towns that resisted extremism come under fire”. Reports frequently refer to Idlib as a jihadist haven, writes Hall, but the reality is more complicated.

The Times and Reuters report that Saudi Arabia attempted to shore up a hardline stance against its regional foe Iran yesterday as its allies prepared their response to the rise in tension between Tehran and Washington. The Times reports that as President Trump continued to back-pedal from the administration’s previous hardline posture against Iran, Saudi spokesmen insisted that there should be no let-up in the pressure applied by America’s regional allies. Ibrahim al-Assaf, the Saudi Foreign Minister, referred to recent attacks on oil tankers off the United Arab Emirates and drone strikes on oil installations owned by the Saudi oil giant Aramco, all attributed by the US to Iran and its proxies. “The strikes on Aramco are terrorist attacks and must be countered with determination,” he said, as Arab leaders gathered for a series of summits in Mecca.

Kan Radio and Army Radio report that two men have been stabbed at the Hurva Synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem. Initial Magen David Adom reports indicate that they were treating a 50 year-old man who sustained serious injuries and was taken to Shaare Zedek Hospital. The other man inside the Hurva Synagogue sustained light injuries. The Police said: “Around 06:20 the assailant entered through the Damascus Gate. He stabbed a man inside and began running from the scene. Along the way, he saw a 16-year-old boy and stabbed him as well.” The assailant was shot and killed.

Yossi Verter in Haaretz writes that the new elections are “insanity, Italy at its worst. A politician up to his neck in crimes, with a severe indictment hanging over his head is dragging an entire country to the polls, and no one in his party and no one in his planned coalition has put his foot down and told him: Stop! It’s over! He decides, and 73 MKs follow him glassy eyed, like zombies.” Verter also argues that “On Thursday, May 30, the countdown to the end of the long Netanyahu era began.” Adding “elections on September 17, a new government – assuming that he wins and puts together 61 MKs without Avigdor Lieberman this time – at the beginning of November. This will be a month after his pre-indictment hearing. The Supreme Court-override law will not have passed, nor will he have immunity from prosecution: There will be an indictment and Netanyahu will be on his way to becoming history. It is doubtful that any of his “natural partners” will agree to sign a coalition agreement with someone on his political deathbed.”

Shimon Shiffer in Yediot Ahronoth discusses the relationship between Netanyahu and Lieberman that began in the 1980’s. He suggests that Lieberman: “Is not afraid of what will be said about him, as happened to former chief of staff Benny Gantz. Lieberman knows who was behind the leak of the story about the Iranians hacking Gantz’s cell phone. Unlike the Blue and White leader, Lieberman knows Netanyahu’s hidden secrets. The mutual balance of terror, presumably, will make the advisors calm down.” He adds that: “These two people have reached their decisive battle. Two battle-seasoned foxes who know each other very well. This is going to be dirty.”

Shimrit Meir in Yediot Ahronoth writes that officials in Washington are starting to realise that the election: “Was one blow too many to the commendable effort that Trump’s son-in-law and his team put into the objective of leaving a mark on the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The political crisis in Israel impacts the efforts to launch the peace plan in two ways: technically and in terms of substance. An election in September means that there will not be a government until November. In other words, even if the “workshop” in Bahrain convenes at the end of the month, it will serve at most as material for the Likud campaign propaganda broadcasts—showing Israelis doing business with Arabs in robes, without a Palestinian presence. The assessment is that the Americans will refrain from showing the political part, the “meat” of the peace plan, so as not to cause problems for Netanyahu vis-à-vis the right wing. And by then it will be the start of campaign season in the United States—not a good time for this kind of action.” She concludes that: “As of now, it seems that Trump’s ambitious “deal of the century,” which could have positive aspects from Israel’s standpoint – public normalisation with Arab countries and more convenient parameters than before for a permanent status arrangement—will go out with a whimper.” Haaretz also discusses the plan quoting  Saeb Erekat who said the deal has now become “the deal of the next century” and former US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro who predicted it might never see the light of day.